American Police Cars

Author
Discussion

sday12

5,053 posts

210 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
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enioldjoe said:
Great, he has no stock. A car dealer with no stock. I can do that.

What do you want? Yeah, I'll get you one of those.

D900SP

458 posts

182 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
k-ink said:
At least USA have a manufacturing economy and can support their own. All the UK have is bailed out banks and bankers for an economy.
All of the Crown Vics were built in Canada.

mat777

10,360 posts

159 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
sday12 said:
enioldjoe said:
Great, he has no stock. A car dealer with no stock. I can do that.

What do you want? Yeah, I'll get you one of those.
the way i read it is that they do have stock, but seeing as livery is down to the customer you have to contact them, and there are no finished cars to list

Dangerous Dan

624 posts

170 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
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redtwin said:
Oh the need is there, it's just that the easier (cheaper) option is to just not drive as fast. hehe

You may need clean pants after just watching this!.

http://youtu.be/d2dDVPBloB0
I don't understand exactly how that happened???

vsonix

3,858 posts

162 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
GnuBee said:
How do they manage to obtain a combination of huge engine, appalling MPG and poor performance?
US gasoline is traditionally lower octane, and also US gallons are smaller so MPG figures come out looking a bit skewed - I think 23mpg for them is roughly 30mpg for us. The propensity for huge engines come from the weak-but-cheap petrol, American cars do better mileage than ever before but when you consider what they used to do, it ain't hard, and with the big heavy chassis and bodies compared to Euro and Japanese cars it's easy to see why the figures are still behind...

wst

3,494 posts

160 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
Dangerous Dan said:
redtwin said:
Oh the need is there, it's just that the easier (cheaper) option is to just not drive as fast. hehe

You may need clean pants after just watching this!.

http://youtu.be/d2dDVPBloB0
I don't understand exactly how that happened???
Going too fast, then overcorrecting. Bad driving. Good job he wasn't driving an FWD or he would have died... wink

vsonix said:
US gasoline is traditionally lower octane, and also US gallons are smaller so MPG figures come out looking a bit skewed - I think 23mpg for them is roughly 30mpg for us. The propensity for huge engines come from the weak-but-cheap petrol, American cars do better mileage than ever before but when you consider what they used to do, it ain't hard, and with the big heavy chassis and bodies compared to Euro and Japanese cars it's easy to see why the figures are still behind...
US fuel is measured using Anti-Knock Index (AKI), UK fuel is measured with RON (which means something else). A 99 RON fuel typically scores about 95AKI. Hence the US fuel octanes being 'lower'. Different measurement system. Kinda like when someone says he has a 14 inch todger but it turns out he was measuring in centimetres wink

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
GnuBee said:
How do they manage to obtain a combination of huge engine, appalling MPG and poor performance?

Ford Crown Victoria, 4.6L V8 does 14MPG in town and still takes 9 seconds to 60?
erm maybe because it's a flipping huge and heavy car yet only has 250hp. Can't really see what your issue is.

The Crown Vic is an old design car using an out dated engine that wasn't great when new.

Stick a BMW 4.4 V8 (280hp) motor in a similar vehicle and you'd get pretty similar results, same mpg likely but maybe a second quicker to 60mph due to 30hp more.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
wst said:
Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job? OR at least, better cars could be made for it... I know they like their body-on-chassis construction for cop cars so they can use the PIT manoeuvre without twisting everything up, but considering that life isn't actually like Grand Theft Auto most of the time, I'd have thought the 'average' Police Cruiser could be something a bit more modern, maybe have a few V8 Interceptors of the Crown Vic. sort lying around if they need to stop someone more violently...
Pretty appalling in what way? Care to think of something truly better, maybe an 11 sec to 60mph diesel Astra is the answer? idea

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
g3org3y said:
jbi said:
wst said:
Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job?
Can you suggest any?


And it might even go round a few corners. smile
It's funny hoe some of you are so fugging deluded rolleyes

BTW the mpg figures in the op are US (3.78 litres) not Imperial (4.546 litres), so the mpg is better.

You load up a BMW to do the same job and it'll be just as crap on fuel and performance if not worse.

BTW - I've got a Motor Trend mag with their long term test 335d in it, overall mpg was mid 20's in real world US driving eek

wst

3,494 posts

160 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
Pretty appalling in what way? Care to think of something truly better, maybe an 11 sec to 60mph diesel Astra is the answer? idea
The usual 'low HP/big engine' thing, plus economy these days. Like I said, life ain't GTA... 9/10 cars would be fine as something like a diesel Astra, frankly, and just have a few PIT-capable cars for when the fan and the poo collide. The USA is a massive place, right, and despite their massively liberal 'you can crash 'em' laws, we still don't get more than about 5 hours of grainy footage of smash and bash police driving every 10 years... so it's not like they're constantly PITing people. THe majority of their job is boring diesel Astra stuff... with a gun.

Plus, your diesel Astra could be overoiled for fun and get runaway which would be a fun little skit to have on POLICE SMASH shows, just some light humour as they look for a fire extinguisher and the like! Can't do that with a big floppy yank tank wink

But seriously, if these cars are such an upgrade from the Crown Vic (ie. worth even buying) I'd expect them to have significantly better figures and the same old robust construction of the Crown Vic. These things look like they're going to be expensive once they bend them.

Wafflesmk2

1,347 posts

153 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
redtwin said:
Oh the need is there, it's just that the easier (cheaper) option is to just not drive as fast. hehe

You may need clean pants after just watching this!.

http://youtu.be/d2dDVPBloB0

The big boat cruisers are comfortable and even fun to drive as long as you are aware of their limitations and don't ask them to do something they can't. I drove a Crown Vic (well it was a Grand Marquis, but same thing) for a while and you would have to be driving very silly for it to get properly loose. Certainly in a manner you shouldn't be driving on public roads regardless of the capabilities of any car.
I thought he was going to keep hold of that at first. Even on the first bend you could see it wallowing around like a trifle.

At least that's the bonus with a 1.3 diesel astra, the suspension is probably a bit stiffer biggrin

AlexiusG55

655 posts

155 months

Sunday 18th March 2012
quotequote all
wst said:
he usual 'low HP/big engine' thing, plus economy these days. Like I said, life ain't GTA... 9/10 cars would be fine as something like a diesel Astra, frankly, and just have a few PIT-capable cars for when the fan and the poo collide. The USA is a massive place, right, and despite their massively liberal 'you can crash 'em' laws, we still don't get more than about 5 hours of grainy footage of smash and bash police driving every 10 years... so it's not like they're constantly PITing people. THe majority of their job is boring diesel Astra stuff... with a gun..
(My emphasis)
I think you've actually mentioned the point without realising it. The distances are a lot bigger in most of the US, so one police car has to be able to do everything as back-up in a more suitable vehicle would take too long to arrive. A Crown Vic has to do normal patrolling, high-speed pursuits, transport prisoners and shunt disabled vehicles out of the road (what the push-bars on the front are for, PIT uses the corner of the car). While a British policeman in a diesel Astra can radio and expect a T-5, van or recovery vehicle to turn up reasonably quickly, an American policeman might have to wait quite a bit longer. Similar reason why, though all US police have sidearms, they AFAIK often carry some more serious weaponry in patrol cars- a shotgun between the front seats and/or an M-16 in the boot, plus the doors have Kevlar panels so they can take cover behind them.

I think some more urban parts of the US have started using non-pursuit-capable cars for patrolling - often Priuses!

redtwin

7,518 posts

181 months

Monday 19th March 2012
quotequote all
Some departments used to have special "pursuit" cars, Mustangs and Z28 Camaros etc (I know, I know), but many of them were phased out as they were too limited in their function.

Not being able to carry suspects was the main issue. Pursuit car catches the baddies, then has to wait around for a proper police car equipped with a cage. Minimum two officers and two cars tied up doing the job one officer and car could do. That and lawsuits resulting from high speed crashes meant the end of the "pursuit" car.

A diesel Astra, being bounced up and down sidewalks, being driven through thick brush on highway medians and being hammered at full throttle?. I would give them 6 months before they packed up.

Of course they would also have to find a way to fit all this clobber in. hehe



Motorrad

6,811 posts

186 months

Monday 19th March 2012
quotequote all
wst said:
if these cars are such an upgrade from the Crown Vic (ie. worth even buying).
They aren't as far as the cops themselves are concerned. Police departments bought up as many P71s as they could get their hands on before production ended.

Anecdotaly every single cop I've talked to rates the crown vic as the best car for the job over any of the alternatives.

As for a 5er being a 'better' cop car for the US- you are having a laugh.

croyde

22,700 posts

229 months

Monday 19th March 2012
quotequote all
I'd love a Crown Vic as a daily.

sday12

5,053 posts

210 months

Monday 19th March 2012
quotequote all
mat777 said:
sday12 said:
enioldjoe said:
Great, he has no stock. A car dealer with no stock. I can do that.

What do you want? Yeah, I'll get you one of those.
the way i read it is that they do have stock, but seeing as livery is down to the customer you have to contact them, and there are no finished cars to list
Then why no UK pics?
You put in order, he ships it, adds stickers, adds 2K.